Method and system for implementing telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management. In various embodiments, a computing system might receive, from a monitoring sensor(s), one or more characteristics of each of at least one of telecommunications equipment, telecommunications equipment batteries, or battery strings, in some cases via a network maintenance tunnel. The computing system might analyze the monitored one or more characteristics to identify each telecommunications equipment, each telecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string having equipment health issues. Based on a determination that one or more of at least one telecommunications equipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or at least one battery string have equipment health issues, the computing system might send a notification to a user(s), the notification comprising information regarding the at least one telecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunications equipment battery, and/or the at least one battery string having equipment health issues.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.62/837,622 (the “'622 application”), filed Apr. 23, 2019 by Ronald A.Lewis et al., entitled, “Method and System for ImplementingTelecommunications Equipment Health Monitoring and Management,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entiretyfor all purposes.

The respective disclosures of these applications/patents (which thisdocument refers to collectively as the “Related Applications”) areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to methods, systems, andapparatuses for implementing communications with telecommunicationsequipment, and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatusesfor implementing telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement.

BACKGROUND

In conventional telecommunications systems, typical battery circuitsthat provide power to digital subscriber line access multiplexer(“DSLAM”) cabinets or other remote facilities during power outages toensure that customers can continue to receive network service duringtemporary outages. However, such typical battery circuits orconventional telecommunications systems lack the means to monitorbattery health or battery life (or equipment health or life).Conventional solutions that do exist are generally more expensive thanreplacing the battery. When a battery dies, the only way a serviceprovider would know that the battery has died is if there is an outageand a large number of subscribers lose service, and if the serviceprovider can ascribe the larger outage to a power loss at the DSLAM. Theservice provider might end up having to roll up a large number of trucksto find out it is a battery issue. But, the service provider losesvisibility to the bad battery because, once power is restored, theservice provider closes out the tickets.

Hence, there is a need for more robust and scalable solutions forimplementing communications with telecommunications equipment, and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 1B and 1C are schematic diagrams illustrating non-limitingexamples of telecommunications equipment sensors or battery sensors thatmay be implemented in the system of FIG. 1A, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of aremote facility in which telecommunications equipment health monitoringand management may be implemented, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of amap view or graphical visualization as displayed on a display devicethat presents to a user characteristics of monitored telecommunicationsequipment or monitored batteries or battery strings providing power totelecommunications equipment that are located at remote facilities, aspart of telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management,in accordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 4A-4D are flow diagrams illustrating a method for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer or systemhardware architecture, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,computing systems, or system hardware architecture, which can be used inaccordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS Overview

Various embodiments provide tools and techniques for implementingcommunications with telecommunications equipment, and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management.

In various embodiments, at least one sensor might monitor one or morecharacteristics of each of at least one of one or moretelecommunications equipment in a remote facility (e.g., a centraloffice, a remote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line accessmultiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like), one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries within a battery string providing power totelecommunications equipment in a remote facility, or one or morebattery strings providing power to telecommunications equipment in aremote facility, and/or the like. The at least one sensor might send themonitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, via a network maintenance tunnel, in some cases to a networkdata store(s). A computing system(s) might subsequently receive themonitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, in some cases from the network data store(s), over thenetwork(s) (in some instances, via the network maintenance tunnel).

Computing system(s) might analyze the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings to identify eachtelecommunications equipment, each telecommunications equipment battery,or each battery string having equipment health issues. Based on adetermination that one or more of at least one telecommunicationsequipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or atleast one battery string have equipment health issues, the computingsystem(s) might send a notification to user(s) (e.g., by sending thenotification to user device(s), or the like), the notificationcomprising information regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues, and/or the like.

In some cases, the one or more characteristics of each of the at leastone of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings might include, without limitation, at least one of voltage,amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gas discharge,network connectivity, or network communications characteristics, and/orthe like. In some instances, the equipment health issues might include,but are not limited to, at least one of high temperature abovepredetermined high temperature thresholds, low temperature belowpredetermined low temperature thresholds, high humidity abovepredetermined high humidity thresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormalbattery charge rate, abnormal battery drain rate, dead battery, networkconnectivity issues, or network communications issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the computing system(s) might generate agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings or analyticssummarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like. The computing system(s) might subsequentlydisplay, on a display device that is viewable by the user(s), thegenerated graphical visualization.

The various embodiments address issues with conventionaltelecommunications systems or typical battery circuits used in saidconventional telecommunications systems. Rather, the various embodimentsprovide a plurality of sensors that monitor at least one of one or moretelecommunications equipment, one or more batteries providing power tothe one or more telecommunications equipment, and/or one or more batterystrings providing power to the one or more telecommunications equipment,and/or the like that are disposed in a remote facility (e.g., a centraloffice, a remote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line accessmultiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like). The plurality of sensors mightsubsequently send characteristics of the monitored at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like, to a computing system (and/or a network datastore(s) (e.g., an analytics-based data store such as Splunk®, Tableau®,or the like), etc.) over a network, via network maintenance tunnel(e.g., a generic routing encapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, a businesssupport systems (“BSS”) communications line, an operations supportsystems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtual private network(“VPN”) communications connection, and/or the like). The computingsystem(s) might analyze the monitored characteristics of the at leastone of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like, and might generate a graphical visualizationthat presents the monitored characteristics and/or analytics summarizingthe monitored characteristics, and might display the generated graphicalvisualization. In this manner, the various embodiments providemonitoring of the health or life of telecommunications equipment,batteries, and/or battery strings that are disposed in the remotefacility, regardless of whether the issues have been resolved, andwithout any truck rolls being required to perform the monitoring.

These and other aspects of the telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management method and system are described in greaterdetail with respect to the figures.

The following detailed description illustrates a few exemplaryembodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in the art topractice such embodiments. The described examples are provided forillustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the presentinvention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Inother instances, certain structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and whilevarious features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should beappreciated that the features described with respect to one embodimentmay be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token,however, no single feature or features of any described embodimentshould be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, asother embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Various embodiments described herein, while embodying (in some cases)software products, computer-performed methods, and/or computer systems,represent tangible, concrete improvements to existing technologicalareas, including, without limitation, telecommunications equipmentmonitoring technology, telecommunications equipment managementtechnology, and/or the like. In other aspects, certain embodiments, canimprove the functioning of user equipment or systems themselves (e.g.,telecommunications equipment monitoring and management system, etc.),for example, by monitoring, with at least one sensor of atelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system,one or more characteristics of each of at least one of one or moretelecommunications equipment in a central office, a remote cabinet, or adigital subscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”), one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries within a battery string providingpower to telecommunications equipment in a central office, a remotecabinet, or a DSLAM, or one or more battery strings providing power totelecommunications equipment in a central office, a remote cabinet, or aDSLAM; sending, with the at least one sensor of the telecommunicationsequipment health monitoring and management system and via a networkmaintenance tunnel and over a network, the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; receiving, witha computing system of the telecommunications equipment health monitoringand management system, the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings; analyzing, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system,the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings to identify each telecommunications equipment, eachtelecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string havingequipment health issues; and based on a determination that one or moreof at least one telecommunications equipment, at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or at least one battery stringhave equipment health issues, sending, with the computing system, anotification to a user, the notification comprising informationregarding the one or more of the at least one telecommunicationsequipment, the at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or theat least one battery string having equipment health issues; and/or thelike.

In particular, to the extent any abstract concepts are present in thevarious embodiments, those concepts can be implemented as describedherein by devices, software, systems, and methods that involve specificnovel functionality (e.g., steps or operations), such as, in response toreceiving, from at least one sensor, monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; analyzing, withthe computing system of the telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management system, the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings to identify eachtelecommunications equipment, each telecommunications equipment battery,or each battery string having equipment health issues; and based on adetermination that one or more of at least one telecommunicationsequipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or atleast one battery string have equipment health issues, sending, with thecomputing system, a notification to a user, the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues; and/or the like, to name a few examples, that extendbeyond mere conventional computer processing operations. Thesefunctionalities can produce tangible results outside of the implementingcomputer system, including, merely by way of example, optimizedmonitoring and management of telecommunications equipment, batteries,and/or battery strings that are disposed at a remote facility, and/orthe like, at least some of which may be observed or measured bycustomers and/or service providers.

In an aspect, a method might comprise monitoring, with at least onesensor of a telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system, one or more characteristics of each of at least oneof one or more telecommunications equipment in a central office, aremote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line access multiplexer(“DSLAM”), one or more telecommunications equipment batteries within abattery string providing power to telecommunications equipment in acentral office, a remote cabinet, or a DSLAM, or one or more batterystrings providing power to telecommunications equipment in a centraloffice, a remote cabinet, or a DSLAM; and sending, with the at least onesensor of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system and via a network maintenance tunnel and over anetwork, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings. The method might further comprise receiving, with a computingsystem of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system, the monitored one or more characteristics of each ofthe at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings; and analyzing, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system,the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings to identify each telecommunications equipment, eachtelecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string havingequipment health issues. The method might comprise, based on adetermination that one or more of at least one telecommunicationsequipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or atleast one battery string have equipment health issues, sending, with thecomputing system, a notification to a user, the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues.

In some embodiments, the at least one sensor might be coupled to eachequipment, battery, or battery string among the at least one of the oneor more telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike. In some cases, the at least one sensor might each comprise atleast one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, ahumidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, ornetwork communications sensor, and/or the like. According to someembodiment, the one or more characteristics of each of the at least oneof the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like, might comprise at least one of voltage,amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gas discharge,network connectivity, or network communications characteristics, and/orthe like. In some instances, the equipment health issues comprise atleast one of high temperature above predetermined high temperaturethresholds, low temperature below predetermined low temperaturethresholds, high humidity above predetermined high humidity thresholds,battery gas leakage, abnormal battery charge rate, abnormal batterydrain rate, dead battery, network connectivity issues, or networkcommunications issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the network maintenance tunnel mightcomprise one of a generic routing encapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, abusiness support systems (“BSS”) communications line, an operationssupport systems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtual privatenetwork (“VPN”) communications connection, and/or the like. In somecases, the network maintenance tunnel might be a communications tunnelthat transfers data over the network without utilizing bandwidthassociated with customers of a service provider operating the network.

In some embodiments, sending the monitored one or more characteristicsof each of the at least one of the one or more telecommunicationsequipment, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, orthe one or more battery strings via the network maintenance tunnel andover the network might comprise sending, with the at least one sensor ofthe telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management systemand to a network data store via the network maintenance tunnel and overthe network, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like. In such embodiments, receiving, with thecomputing system of the telecommunications equipment health monitoringand management system, the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings might comprise receiving, with the computing system ofthe telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management systemand from the network data store, the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike.

According to some embodiments, the method might further comprisegenerating, with the computing system of the telecommunicationsequipment health monitoring and management system, a graphicalvisualization that presents at least one of the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings or analyticssummarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings; and displaying, with the computing system and on a displaydevice that is viewable by the user, the generated graphicalvisualization.

In another aspect, a telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system might comprise at least one sensor disposed at one ofa central office, a remote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line accessmultiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like, and a computing system thatcommunicatively couples to the at least one sensor via a networkmaintenance tunnel and over a network.

The at least one sensor might monitor one or more characteristics ofeach of at least one of one or more telecommunications equipment in theone of the central office, the remote cabinet, or the DSLAM, one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries within a battery string providingpower to telecommunications equipment in the one of the central office,the remote cabinet, or the DSLAM, or one or more battery stringsproviding power to telecommunications equipment in the one of thecentral office, the remote cabinet, or the DSLAM, wherein the at leastone sensor might send the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings via a network maintenance tunnel and over a network.

The computing system might comprise at least one processor and anon-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to theat least one processor. The non-transitory computer readable mediummight have stored thereon computer software comprising a set ofinstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causesthe computing system to: receive the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; analyze themonitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings to identify each telecommunications equipment, eachtelecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string havingequipment health issues; and based on a determination that one or moreof at least one telecommunications equipment, at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or at least one battery stringhave equipment health issues, send a notification to a user, thenotification comprising information regarding the one or more of the atleast one telecommunications equipment, the at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or the at least one battery stringhaving equipment health issues.

In some embodiments, the at least one sensor might be coupled to eachequipment, battery, or battery string among the at least one of the oneor more telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike. In some cases, the at least one sensor might each comprise atleast one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, ahumidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, ornetwork communications sensor, and/or the like. According to someembodiments, the one or more characteristics of each of the at least oneof the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings might comprise at least one of voltage, amperage, electricalcharge, temperature, humidity, gas discharge, network connectivity, ornetwork communications characteristics, and/or the like. In someinstances, the equipment health issues might comprise at least one ofhigh temperature above predetermined high temperature thresholds, lowtemperature below predetermined low temperature thresholds, highhumidity above predetermined high humidity thresholds, battery gasleakage, abnormal battery charge rate, abnormal battery drain rate, deadbattery, network connectivity issues, or network communications issues,and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the network maintenance tunnel mightcomprise one of a generic routing encapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, abusiness support systems (“BSS”) communications line, an operationssupport systems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtual privatenetwork (“VPN”) communications connection, and/or the like. In somecases, the network maintenance tunnel might be a communications tunnelthat transfers data over the network without utilizing bandwidthassociated with customers of a service provider operating the network.

In some embodiments, sending the monitored one or more characteristicsof each of the at least one of the one or more telecommunicationsequipment, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, orthe one or more battery strings via the network maintenance tunnel andover the network might comprise sending, with the at least one sensor ofthe telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management systemand to a network data store via the network maintenance tunnel and overthe network, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like. In such embodiments, receiving the monitoredone or more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one ormore telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings might comprisereceiving, with the computing system of the telecommunications equipmenthealth monitoring and management system and from the network data storevia the network maintenance tunnel and over the network, the monitoredone or more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one ormore telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike.

According to some embodiments, the set of instructions, when executed bythe at least one processor, might further cause the computing system to:generate a graphical visualization that presents at least one of themonitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings or analytics summarizing the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; and display, ona display device that is viewable by the user, the generated graphicalvisualization.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodimentsdiscussed without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, while the embodiments described above refer to particularfeatures, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments havingdifferent combination of features and embodiments that do not includeall of the above described features.

Specific Exemplary Embodiments

We now turn to the embodiments as illustrated by the drawings. FIGS. 1-6illustrate some of the features of the method, system, and apparatus forimplementing communications with telecommunications equipment, and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management, asreferred to above. The methods, systems, and apparatuses illustrated byFIGS. 1-6 refer to examples of different embodiments that includevarious components and steps, which can be considered alternatives orwhich can be used in conjunction with one another in the variousembodiments. The description of the illustrated methods, systems, andapparatuses shown in FIGS. 1-6 is provided for purposes of illustrationand should not be considered to limit the scope of the differentembodiments.

With reference to the figures, FIGS. 1A-1C (collectively, “FIG. 1”) areschematic diagrams illustrating a system 100 for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management, inaccordance with various embodiments. FIGS. 1B and 1C are schematicdiagrams illustrating non-limiting examples of telecommunicationsequipment sensors or battery sensors that may be implemented in thesystem of FIG. 1A, in accordance with various embodiments.

In the non-limiting embodiment of FIG. 1, system 100 might comprise acomputing system 105 a and corresponding database(s) 110 a that is localto the computing system 105 a. In some cases, the database(s) 110 amight be external, yet communicatively coupled, to the computing system105 a. In other cases, the database(s) 110 a might be integrated withinthe computing system 105 a. System 100, according to some embodiments,might further comprise one or more user devices 115 and one or moredisplay devices 120, each either associated with user(s) 125 and/orviewable or usable by user(s) 125. The computing system(s) 105 a,database(s) 110 a, user device(s) 115, display device(s) 120, anduser(s) 125 might be disposed in service provider facility 130 (whichmight include, but is not limited to, a central office (“CO”), a serviceoperations headquarters, and/or the like) that is associated with, oroperated by, a service provider.

System 100 might further comprise one or more telecommunicationsequipment 135 a-135 n (collectively, “telecommunications equipment 135”or the like), one or more batteries 140 a-140 n (collectively,“batteries 140” or the like), a battery string(s) 145 (which comprisestwo or more batteries 140 among the one or more batteries 140, or thelike), first sensor(s) 150 a-150 n (collectively, “first sensors 150” or“sensors 150” or the like), and second sensor(s) 155 a-155 n(collectively, “second sensors 155” or “sensors 155” or the like),and/or the like, each of which may be disposed at a remote facility(ies)160, which may be associated with, or operated by, the service provider.The remote facility(ies) 160 might each include, but is not limited to,a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line accessmultiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like. System 100 might furthercomprise a network maintenance tunnel 170 and a network data store(s)175 (e.g., an analytics-based data store such as Splunk®, Tableau®, orthe like). In some cases, alternative or additional to computingsystem(s) 105 a and corresponding database(s) 110 a being disposed atservice provider facility 130, system 100 might comprise remotecomputing system(s) 105 b and corresponding database(s) 110 b that areremote from service provider facility 130, while being accessible to orby telecommunications equipment 135, first sensor(s) 150, and/or secondsensor(s) 155 via network(s) 165 (and, in the case of sensor(s) 150and/or 155, via network maintenance tunnel 170, or the like), andperforming functions similar to that performed by computing system(s)105 a and corresponding database(s) 110 a, respectively. Thetelecommunications equipment 135 might communicatively couple tocomputing system(s) 105 a or 105 b (collectively, “computing system(s)105” or the like) via network(s) 165 and via regular network routes orpathways, while the sensor(s) 150 and/or 155 might communicativelycouple to computing system(s) 105 via network(s) 165 and via the networkmaintenance tunnel 170. According to some embodiments, the networkmaintenance tunnel 170 might include, but is not limited to, one of ageneric routing encapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, a business support systems(“BSS”) communications line, an operations support systems (“OSS”)communications line, or a virtual private network (“VPN”) communicationsconnection, or the like. In some cases, the network maintenance tunnel170 might be a communications tunnel that transfers data over thenetwork(s) 165 without utilizing bandwidth associated with customers ofa service provider operating the network(s) 165.

In some instances, the telecommunications equipment 135 might include,without limitation, at least one of one or more analog switches, one ormore digital switches, one or more voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”)switches, one or more multilayer switches, one or more protocolconverters, one or more base transceiver stations, one or moremultiplexers, one or more customer office terminals, one or more modems,one or more routers, one or more network nodes, one or more gatewaydevices, one or more bridges, one or more bridge routers, one or morerepeaters, one or more repeater hubs, one or more proxy servers, one ormore firewalls, one or more network address translators, one or morenetwork interface controllers, one or more wireless network interfacecontrollers, one or more terminal adapters (e.g., integrated servicesdigital network (“ISDN”) terminal adapters, or the like), one or moreline drivers, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the first sensor(s) 150 might be coupled to thetelecommunications equipment 135, as individual sensors or as sets ofsensors, and might each include, without limitation, at least one of avoltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, a humidity sensor, agas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, or networkcommunications sensor, and/or the like. In a similar manner, the secondsensor(s) 155 might be coupled to the batteries 140 and/or the batterystring(s) 145 providing power to the telecommunications equipment 135,as individual sensors or as sets of sensors, and might each include, butis not limited to, at least one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, amultimeter, a thermometer, a humidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor,network connectivity sensor, or network communications sensor, and/orthe like.

In operation, at least one sensor among the sensors 150 and/or sensors155 might monitor one or more characteristics of each of at least one ofone or more telecommunications equipment 135 in a remote facility 160,one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 140 within a batterystring 145 providing power to telecommunications equipment 135 in aremote facility 160, or one or more battery strings 145 providing powerto telecommunications equipment 135 in a remote facility 160, and/or thelike. The at least one sensor might send the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 135, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 140, or the one or more battery strings 145, vianetwork maintenance tunnel 170, in some cases to network data store(s)175. Computing system(s) 105 might subsequently receive the monitoredone or more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one ormore telecommunications equipment 135, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries 140, or the one or more batterystrings 145, in some cases from network data store(s) 175, over thenetwork(s) 165 (in some instances, via network maintenance tunnel 170).

Computing system(s) 105 might analyze the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 135, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 140, or the one or more battery strings 145 toidentify each telecommunications equipment, each telecommunicationsequipment battery, or each battery string having equipment healthissues. Based on a determination that one or more of at least onetelecommunications equipment, at least one telecommunications equipmentbattery, or at least one battery string have equipment health issues,computing system(s) 105 might send a notification to user(s) 125 (e.g.,by sending the notification to user device(s) 115, or the like), thenotification comprising information regarding the one or more of the atleast one telecommunications equipment, the at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or the at least one battery stringhaving equipment health issues, and/or the like.

In some cases, the one or more characteristics of each of the at leastone of the one or more telecommunications equipment 135, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries 140, or the one or more batterystrings 145 might include, without limitation, at least one of voltage,amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gas discharge,network connectivity, or network communications characteristics, and/orthe like. In some instances, the equipment health issues might include,but are not limited to, at least one of high temperature abovepredetermined high temperature thresholds, low temperature belowpredetermined low temperature thresholds, high humidity abovepredetermined high humidity thresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormalbattery charge rate, abnormal battery drain rate, dead battery, networkconnectivity issues, or network communications issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, computing system(s) 105 might generate agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 135, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 140, or the one or more battery strings 145 oranalytics summarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment 135,the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 140, or the oneor more battery strings 145, and/or the like. The computing system(s)105 might subsequently display, on a display device (e.g., displaydevice(s) 120) that is viewable by the user(s) 125, the generatedgraphical visualization (such as shown in FIG. 3 or the like).

With reference to FIGS. 1B and 1C, each of the one or more first sensors150 or each of the one or more second sensors 155 may be embodied by oneof the telecommunications equipment or battery sensor 180 (FIG. 1B) orthe telecommunications equipment or battery sensor 185 (FIG. 1C).Referring to FIG. 1B, the telecommunications equipment or battery sensor180 might comprise a processor 180 a (which might include, but is notlimited to, at least one of an open source IoT platform (e.g., NodeMCU,or the like), a microprocessor, a microcontroller (e.g., Arduino Nanomicrocontroller, or the like)), a data store 180 b, a communicationssystem(s) 180 c, an analog to digital (“ADC”) converter or datacollector 180 d (which might include, but is not limited to, amicrocontroller (e.g., Arduino Nano microcontroller, or the like), anADC, or the like), one or more sensors (including, but not limited to,at least one of temperature sensor(s) 180(e) (optional), humiditysensor(s) 180(f) (optional), gas discharge sensor(s) 180(g) (optional),voltage sensor(s) 180(h) (optional), current sensor(s) 180(i)(optional), capacity sensor(s) 180(j) (optional), network connectivitysensor(s) 180(k) (optional), or network communications sensor(s) 180(l)(optional), and/or the like), and one or more indicator lights 180(m)(optional), and/or the like. In some cases, the voltage sensor(s) 180(h)might comprise a voltage divider circuit that monitors the charge anddrain rate of batteries, etc.

In some instances, the one or more indicator lights 180(m) mightinclude, without limitation, light emitting diodes (“LEDs”), a lightbulb, display screen(s) or portion(s) of a display screen, or otherlight sources. In some cases, the one or more indicator lights 180(m)might include, but is not limited to, a blue colored indicator light, agreen colored indicator light, a yellow colored indicator light, and ared colored indicator light, or the like. The blue colored indicatorlight, when in the on state, might indicate that the telecommunicationsequipment 135, the battery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that thesensor 180 is monitoring might have good (network) connectivity with atleast the network data store(s) 175 and/or the network maintenancetunnel 170, while the blue colored indicator light, when in the offstate, might indicate that the telecommunications equipment 135, thebattery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that the sensor 180 ismonitoring might have poor (network) connectivity with at least thenetwork data store(s) 175 and/or the network maintenance tunnel 170. Thegreen colored indicator light, when in the on state, might indicate thatthe telecommunications equipment 135, the battery 140, and/or thebattery string 145 that the sensor 180 is monitoring might have goodbattery health, while the yellow colored indicator light, when in the onstate, might indicate that the telecommunications equipment 135, thebattery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that the sensor 180 ismonitoring might have failing battery health (e.g., battery draining tooquickly, etc.), and the red colored indicator light, when in the onstate, might indicate that the telecommunications equipment 135, thebattery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that the sensor 180 ismonitoring might have poor battery health or dead battery state.

Turning to FIG. 1C, the telecommunications equipment or battery sensor185 might comprise a processor 185 a (which might include, but is notlimited to, at least one of an open source IoT platform (e.g., NodeMCU,or the like), a microprocessor, a microcontroller (e.g., Arduino Nanomicrocontroller, or the like)), a data store 185 b, a communicationssystem(s) 185 c, an analog to digital (“ADC”) converter or datacollector 185 d (which might include, but is not limited to, amicrocontroller (e.g., Arduino Nano microcontroller, or the like), anADC, or the like), one or more sensors (including, but not limited to,at least one of temperature sensor(s) 185(e) (optional), humiditysensor(s) 185(f) (optional), gas discharge sensor(s) 185(g) (optional),voltage sensor(s) 185(h) (optional), current sensor(s) 185(i)(optional), or capacity sensor(s) 185(j) (optional), and/or the like),and one or more indicator lights 185(k) (optional), and/or the like. Insome cases, the voltage sensor(s) 185(h) might comprise a voltagedivider circuit that monitors the charge and drain rate of batteries,etc.

In some instances, the one or more indicator lights 185(m) mightinclude, without limitation, light emitting diodes (“LEDs”), a lightbulb, display screen(s) or portion(s) of a display screen, or otherlight sources. In some cases, the one or more indicator lights 185(m)might include, but is not limited to, a blue colored indicator light, agreen colored indicator light, a yellow colored indicator light, and ared colored indicator light, or the like. The blue colored indicatorlight, when in the on state, might indicate that the telecommunicationsequipment 135, the battery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that thesensor 185 is monitoring might have good (network) connectivity with atleast the network data store(s) 175 and/or the network maintenancetunnel 170, while the blue colored indicator light, when in the offstate, might indicate that the telecommunications equipment 135, thebattery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that the sensor 185 ismonitoring might have poor (network) connectivity with at least thenetwork data store(s) 175 and/or the network maintenance tunnel 170. Thegreen colored indicator light, when in the on state, might indicate thatthe telecommunications equipment 135, the battery 140, and/or thebattery string 145 that the sensor 185 is monitoring might have goodbattery health, while the yellow colored indicator light, when in the onstate, might indicate that the telecommunications equipment 135, thebattery 140, and/or the battery string 145 that the sensor 185 ismonitoring might have failing battery health, and the red coloredindicator light, when in the on state, might indicate that thetelecommunications equipment 135, the battery 140, and/or the batterystring 145 that the sensor 185 is monitoring might have poor batteryhealth or dead battery state.

These and other functions of the system 100 (and its components) aredescribed in greater detail below with respect to FIGS. 2-4.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a non-limiting example 200 ofa remote facility in which telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management may be implemented, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a plurality of telecommunications batteries 205 that areconnected in a battery string(s) 210 within a battery rack 215 that islocated within a telecommunications office or remote facility 220 (e.g.,a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line accessmultiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like), which might house one or moretelecommunications equipment or telecommunications equipment components225 mounted on one or more telecommunications equipment racks 230. Thetelecommunications batteries 205—which might be either an integratedwireless capable battery/tester or an external wireless capable batterytester and battery (both as described in related U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/043,931 (the “'931 application”), filed Feb. 15, 2016 byKeith E. Younger, entitled, “Wireless Capable Battery,” the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for allpurposes)—serve to provide primary or backup power to the one or moretelecommunications equipment components 225 that are housed or mountedin the telecommunications equipment racks 230.

According to some embodiments, the telecommunications batteries 205might include, without limitation, valve regulated lead acid batteries(e.g., 12V 170 Ah or 190 Ah front terminal battery strings, or the like)or Ni-Cad batteries (e.g., Ni-Cad 150 Ah cell battery strings, or thelike), and/or the like that may be used in remote cabinets, or lead acidbatteries or the like that might be used in central offices, and/or thelike. In some cases, some telecommunications batteries 205 might havelengths ranging between ˜5.59 inches (or ˜14.20 cm) or shorter and˜16.60 inches (or ˜42.16 cm) or longer, widths ranging between ˜10.44inches (or ˜26.52 cm) or shorter and ˜17.25 inches (or ˜43.82 cm) orwider, and heights of between ˜18.25 inches (or ˜46.36 cm) or shorterand ˜28.90 inches (or ˜73.41 cm) or taller. These dimensions in somecases might be indicative of the limited space in which each batterymight reside, and thus any integrated battery/battery tester must (insuch cases) be designed to fit within such size limitations. In othercases, placement sizes might allow for expansion of the battery in atleast one of the three dimensions to accommodate the integratedbattery/battery tester or to accommodate an external battery tester foreach battery.

System 200 might further comprise one or more first sensors 235, one ormore second sensors 240, and a network maintenance tunnel 245 (e.g., ageneric routing encapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, a BSS communications line,an OSS communications line, or a VPN communications connection, or thelike). In some embodiments, the one or more first sensors 235 might becoupled to the telecommunications equipment or telecommunicationsequipment components 225 that are housed in or mounted on thetelecommunications equipment racks 230, as individual sensors or as setsof sensors, and might each include, without limitation, at least one ofa voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, a humidity sensor,a gas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, or networkcommunications sensor, and/or the like. In a similar manner, the one ormore second sensors 240 might be coupled to the batteries 205 and/or thebattery string(s) 210 providing power to the telecommunicationsequipment or telecommunications equipment components 225 that are housedin or mounted on the telecommunications equipment racks 230, asindividual sensors or as sets of sensors, and might each include, but isnot limited to, at least one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, athermometer, a humidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor, networkconnectivity sensor, or network communications sensor, and/or the like.

In some instances, the telecommunications equipment ortelecommunications equipment components 225 that are housed in ormounted on the telecommunications equipment racks 230 might include,without limitation, at least one of one or more analog switches, one ormore digital switches, one or more voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”)switches, one or more multilayer switches, one or more protocolconverters, one or more base transceiver stations, one or moremultiplexers, one or more customer office terminals, one or more modems,one or more routers, one or more network nodes, one or more gatewaydevices, one or more bridges, one or more bridge routers, one or morerepeaters, one or more repeater hubs, one or more proxy servers, one ormore firewalls, one or more network address translators, one or morenetwork interface controllers, one or more wireless network interfacecontrollers, one or more terminal adapters (e.g., integrated servicesdigital network (“ISDN”) terminal adapters, or the like), one or moreline drivers, and/or the like.

In operation, at least one sensor among the sensors 235 and/or sensors240 might monitor one or more characteristics of each of at least one ofone or more telecommunications equipment 225 in a remote facility 220,one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 205 within a batterystring 210 providing power to telecommunications equipment 225 in aremote facility 220, or one or more battery strings 210 providing powerto telecommunications equipment 225 in a remote facility 220, and/or thelike. The at least one sensor might send the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 225, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 205, or the one or more battery strings 210, vianetwork maintenance tunnel 245 (e.g., a GRE tunnel, a BSS communicationsline, an OSS communications line, or a VPN communications connection, orthe like), in some cases to network data store(s) (e.g., network datastore(s) 175 of FIG. 1, or the like). Computing system(s) (e.g.,computing system(s) 105 a or 105 b of FIG. 1, or the like) mightsubsequently receive the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment 225,the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 205, or the oneor more battery strings 210, in some cases from network data store(s)(e.g., network data store(s) 175 of FIG. 1, or the like), over thenetwork(s) (e.g., network(s) 165 of FIG. 1, or the like) (in someinstances, via network maintenance tunnel 245).

Computing system(s) (e.g., computing system(s) 105 a or 105 b of FIG. 1,or the like) might analyze the monitored one or more characteristics ofeach of the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment225, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 205, or theone or more battery strings 210 to identify each telecommunicationsequipment, each telecommunications equipment battery, or each batterystring having equipment health issues. Based on a determination that oneor more of at least one telecommunications equipment, at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or at least one battery stringhave equipment health issues, computing system(s) (e.g., computingsystem(s) 105 a or 105 b of FIG. 1, or the like) might send anotification to a user (e.g., by sending the notification to userdevice(s) 115 of FIG. 1, or the like), the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues, and/or the like.

In some instances, the equipment health issues might include, but arenot limited to, at least one of high temperature above predeterminedhigh temperature thresholds, low temperature below predetermined lowtemperature thresholds, high humidity above predetermined high humiditythresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormal battery charge rate, abnormalbattery drain rate, dead battery, network connectivity issues, ornetwork communications issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, computing system(s) (e.g., computingsystem(s) 105 a or 105 b of FIG. 1, or the like) might generate agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 225, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 205, or the one or more battery strings 210 oranalytics summarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment 225,the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 205, or the oneor more battery strings 210, and/or the like. The computing system(s)(e.g., computing system(s) 105 a or 105 b of FIG. 1, or the like) mightsubsequently display, on a display device (e.g., display device(s) 120of FIG. 1, or the like) that is viewable by the user, the generatedgraphical visualization.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a non-limiting example 300 ofa map view or graphical visualization as displayed on a display devicethat presents to a user characteristics of monitored telecommunicationsequipment or monitored batteries or battery strings providing power totelecommunications equipment that are located at remote facilities, aspart of telecommunications equipment health monitoring and management,in accordance with various embodiments.

In the non-limiting embodiment of FIG. 3, display device 305 (in thiscase, a monitor, or the like) might comprise a display screen 305 a,which might include, without limitation, at least one of a liquidcrystal display (“LCD”) screen, a light emitting diode (“LED”) displayscreen, an organic LED (“OLED”) display screen, a quantum dot LED(“QLED”) display screen, or a touchscreen display screen, and/or thelike. Although the display device 305 of FIG. 3 is depicted as amonitor, the various embodiments are not so limited, and any suitabledisplay device may be used, including, but not limited to, a television,a monitor, a laptop monitor, a display of a smart phone, a display of amobile phone, a display of tablet computer, a display of an augmentedreality headset, a display of a wearable device, and/or the like.

In accordance with the various embodiments, a map view or graphicalvisualization 310 might be generated, as described herein with respectto FIGS. 1 and 4, with such map view or graphical visualization 310being displayed on the display screen 305 a, as illustrated in thenon-limiting embodiment of FIG. 3.

In the non-limiting example map view or graphical visualization 310, amap of North America is depicted, with four example remote facilitieshighlighted. Such example remote facilities—which might include, but arenot limited to, a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like—aredepicted in or around the following cities: Denver, Colo.; Monroe, La.;Seattle, Wash.; and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. These are merelyillustrative and many more, or fewer, remote facilities may be depictedon the map based on user selection or user preference, with remotefacilities at other locations depicted as desired or as part of thedefault or user settings. In some cases, at particular wide zoomsettings, the remote facility icon might represent multiple remotefacilities within that particular area with a consolidated accounting ofequipment and/or batteries and characteristics of such equipment and/orbatteries. Zooming in on or around that location might result inmultiple locations being individually represented by their own remotefacility icons (depending on whether the remote facilities aresufficient distinguishable at that level of zoom). If two or more remotefacilities cannot be distinguishable at particular levels of zoom, saidtwo or more remote facilities (referred to herein as a set of remotefacilities, or the like) are represented by a consolidated icon thatpresents consolidated information regarding the equipment and/orbatteries and characteristics of such equipment and/or batteries of thetwo or more remote facilities.

As shown in FIG. 3, alert notifications representing each remotefacility or each set of remote facilities might be represented by acircular icon surrounded by expanding waves that fade outward from thecircular icon. Each circular icon (and set of expanding waves) isrepresented by either a color (e.g., blue, green, yellow, red, etc.)and/or a shading or hash pattern (e.g., light black and white checkeredpattern representing “blue on”; scattered dot pattern representing “blueoff”; tight diagonal or back slash pattern representing “green”; widerspaced diagonal or forward slash pattern representing “yellow”; darkwhite hexagonal pattern on black background pattern representing “red”;etc.). In the example 300 of FIG. 3, the color or pattern representing“blue on” indicates that the equipment and/or battery(ies) (or batterystring(s)) has good network connectivity (e.g., connectivity with anetwork data store(s) via a network(s), in some cases, via a GRE tunnelor other network maintenance tunnel, or the like), while the color orpattern representing “blue off” indicates that the equipment and/orbattery(ies) (or battery string(s)) has poor network connectivity (e.g.,connectivity with a network data store(s) via a network(s), in somecases, via a GRE tunnel or other network maintenance tunnel, or thelike). Further, in example 300 of FIG. 3, the color or patternrepresenting “green” indicates that the equipment and/or battery(ies)(or battery string(s)) has good battery health, while the color orpattern representing “yellow” indicates that the equipment and/orbattery(ies) (or battery string(s)) has failing battery health (e.g.,battery draining too quickly, etc.), and the color or patternrepresenting “red” indicates that the equipment and/or battery(ies) (orbattery string(s)) has bad battery health or has a dead battery state,and so on.

The circular icons might contain a single number indicating the numberof equipment and/or batteries having failing or poor equipment healthcharacteristics (or the number of customer premises or number ofresidential or business neighborhoods that are affected by equipmentand/or batteries having failing or poor equipment healthcharacteristics), as depicted by the circular icons corresponding to theremote facility (or set of remote facilities) in or around Seattle (with207 equipment and/or batteries having failing or poor equipment healthcharacteristics (in this case, indicating bad battery health or deadbattery state, as denoted by the “red” color or pattern) (or 207customer premises, or residential or business neighborhoods, that areaffected by equipment and/or batteries having failing or poor equipmenthealth characteristics)). In a similar manner, with smaller remotefacilities, the circular icons might contain a single number indicatingthe number of equipment and/or batteries having good equipment healthcharacteristics (or the number of customer premises or number ofresidential or business neighborhoods that are affected by equipmentand/or batteries having good equipment health characteristics), asdepicted by the circular icon corresponding to the remote facility (orset of remote facilities) in or around Edmonton (with 1 equipment and/orbattery having good equipment health characteristics (in this case,indicating good connectivity, as denoted by the “blue on” color orpattern) (or 1 customer premises, or residential or businessneighborhood, that is affected by equipment and/or batteries having goodequipment health characteristics)).

According to some embodiments, alternative or additional to the circularicons having a single number summarizing the information on equipmenthealth, the circular icons might contain a plurality of icons indicativeof a set of characteristics, including, but not limited to, at least oneof voltage, amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gasdischarge, network connectivity, or network communicationscharacteristics, and/or the like. Alternatively, or additionally, theplurality of icons may be indicative of analytics summarizing suchcharacteristics, including, without limitation, at least one of goodnetwork connectivity, poor network connectivity, good networkcommunications characteristics, poor network communicationscharacteristics, good battery health, failing battery health, poorbattery health or dead battery state, percentage of charge, normalbattery charge rate, abnormal battery charge rate, percentage of drain,normal battery drain rate, abnormal battery drain rate, high relativetemperature (or temperature values exceeding predetermined hightemperature thresholds), normal relative temperature (or temperaturevalues within a predetermined normal temperature range), low relativetemperature (or temperature values dropping below predetermined lowtemperature thresholds), detected gas leakage, high relative humidity(or humidity levels exceeding predetermined high humidity thresholds),normal relative humidity (or humidity levels within a predeterminenormal humidity range), low relative humidity (or humidity levelsdropping below predetermined low humidity thresholds), and/or the like.

For example, the circular icons might contain a plurality of iconsindicating the following (although not limited to these): the totalnumber of equipment and/or batteries (or the number of customer premisesor number of residential or business neighborhoods that are affected bythe equipment and/or batteries), as depicted by the number beside thebattery icon; the number of equipment and/or batteries having goodconnectivity (or the number of customer premises or number ofresidential or business neighborhoods that are affected by the equipmentand/or batteries having good connectivity), as depicted by the numberbeside the “blue on” color or pattern; the number of equipment and/orbatteries having poor connectivity (or the number of customer premisesor number of residential or business neighborhoods that are affected bythe equipment and/or batteries having poor connectivity), as depicted bythe number beside the “blue off” color or pattern; the number ofequipment and/or batteries having good battery health (or the number ofcustomer premises or number of residential or business neighborhoodsthat are affected by the equipment and/or batteries having good batteryhealth), as depicted by the number beside the “green” color or pattern;the number of equipment and/or batteries having failing battery health(or the number of customer premises or number of residential or businessneighborhoods that are affected by the equipment and/or batteries havingfailing battery health), as depicted by the number beside the “yellow”color or pattern; the number of equipment and/or batteries having poorbattery health or dead battery state (or the number of customer premisesor number of residential or business neighborhoods that are affected bythe equipment and/or batteries having poor battery health or deadbattery state), as depicted by the number beside the “red” color orpattern; the average relative temperature as measured at the remotefacility (or set of remote facilities), as depicted by the relativetemperature icon; presence of gas leakage at the remote facility (or atone or more remote facilities among the set of remote facilities), asdepicted by the battery with gas leak icon; etc.

With reference to the non-limiting FIG. 3, the circular iconcorresponding to the remote facility (or set of facilities) in or aroundDenver contains a plurality of icons indicating the following: a totalof 258 equipment and/or batteries (or 258 customer premises or 258residential or business neighborhoods that are affected by the equipmentand/or batteries), as depicted by the number “258” beside the batteryicon; 237 equipment and/or batteries having good connectivity (or 237customer premises or 237 residential or business neighborhoods that areaffected by the equipment and/or batteries having good connectivity), asdepicted by the number “237” beside the “blue on” color or pattern; 21equipment and/or batteries having poor connectivity (or 21 customerpremises or 21 residential or business neighborhoods that are affectedby the equipment and/or batteries having poor connectivity), as depictedby the number “21” (further emphasized by italic type form) beside the“blue off” color or pattern; 241 equipment and/or batteries having goodbattery health (or 241 customer premises or 241 residential or businessneighborhoods that are affected by the equipment and/or batteries havinggood battery health), as depicted by the number “241” beside the “green”color or pattern; 9 equipment and/or batteries having failing batteryhealth (or 9 customer premises or 9 residential or businessneighborhoods that are affected by the equipment and/or batteries havingfailing battery health), as depicted by the number “9” beside the“yellow” color or pattern; 8 equipment and/or batteries having poorbattery health or dead battery state (or 8 customer premises or 8residential or business neighborhoods that are affected by the equipmentand/or batteries having poor battery health or dead battery state), asdepicted by the number “8” (further emphasized by boldface type form)beside the “red” color or pattern; a normal average relative temperatureas measured at the remote facility (or set of remote facilities), asdepicted by the relative temperature icon pointing to a mid-relativetemperature level; etc. The overall characteristic of the remotefacility (or set of remote facilities) in or around Denver, taking intoaccount the characteristics or analytics summarizing suchcharacteristics, is summarized as a “yellow” state, indicative ofpresence of equipment and/or batteries or battery strings having failingbattery health.

The circular icon corresponding to the remote facility (or set offacilities) in or around Monroe contains a plurality of icons indicatingthe following: a total of 564 equipment and/or batteries (or 564customer premises or 564 residential or business neighborhoods that areaffected by the equipment and/or batteries), as depicted by the number“564” beside the battery icon; 308 equipment and/or batteries havinggood connectivity (or 308 customer premises or 308 residential orbusiness neighborhoods that are affected by the equipment and/orbatteries having good connectivity), as depicted by the number “308”beside the “blue on” color or pattern; 256 equipment and/or batterieshaving poor connectivity (or 256 customer premises or 256 residential orbusiness neighborhoods that are affected by the equipment and/orbatteries having poor connectivity), as depicted by the number “256”(further emphasized by italic type form) beside the “blue off” color orpattern; 197 equipment and/or batteries having good battery health (or197 customer premises or 197 residential or business neighborhoods thatare affected by the equipment and/or batteries having good batteryhealth), as depicted by the number “197” beside the “green” color orpattern; 153 equipment and/or batteries having failing battery health(or 153 customer premises or 153 residential or business neighborhoodsthat are affected by the equipment and/or batteries having failingbattery health), as depicted by the number “153” beside the “yellow”color or pattern; 214 equipment and/or batteries having poor batteryhealth or dead battery state (or 214 customer premises or 214residential or business neighborhoods that are affected by the equipmentand/or batteries having poor battery health or dead battery state), asdepicted by the number “214” (further emphasized by boldface type form)beside the “red” color or pattern; a high average relative temperatureas measured at the remote facility (or set of remote facilities), asdepicted by the relative temperature icon pointing to a high relativetemperature level; presence of gas leakage at the remote facility (or atone or more remote facilities among the set of remote facilities), asdepicted by the battery with gas leak icon; etc. The overallcharacteristic of the remote facility (or set of remote facilities) inor around Monroe, taking into account the characteristics or analyticssummarizing such characteristics, is summarized as a “red” state,indicative of presence of equipment and/or batteries or battery stringshaving poor battery health or dead battery state.

The map view or graphical visualization 310 as depicted in FIG. 3 ismerely illustrative, and in no way limits the various embodiments togeneration and/or display of such particular map view of graphicalvisualization (or the particular colors, patterns, or icons) as shown.

FIGS. 4A-4D (collectively, “FIG. 4”) are flow diagrams illustrating amethod 400 for implementing telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management, in accordance with various embodiments.Method 400 of FIG. 4A continues onto FIG. 4B following the circularmarker denoted, “A.”

While the techniques and procedures are depicted and/or described in acertain order for purposes of illustration, it should be appreciatedthat certain procedures may be reordered and/or omitted within the scopeof various embodiments. Moreover, while the method 400 illustrated byFIG. 4 can be implemented by or with (and, in some cases, are describedbelow with respect to) the systems, examples, or embodiments 100, 200,and 300 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, respectively (or components thereof), suchmethods may also be implemented using any suitable hardware (orsoftware) implementation. Similarly, while each of the systems,examples, or embodiments 100, 200, and 300 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3,respectively (or components thereof), can operate according to themethod 400 illustrated by FIG. 4 (e.g., by executing instructionsembodied on a computer readable medium), the systems, examples, orembodiments 100, 200, and 300 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 can each also operateaccording to other modes of operation and/or perform other suitableprocedures.

In the non-limiting embodiment of FIG. 4A, method 400, at block 405,might comprise monitoring, with at least one sensor of atelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system,one or more characteristics of each of at least one of one or moretelecommunications equipment in a remote facility (which might include,but is not limited to, a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like), one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries within a battery stringproviding power to telecommunications equipment in a remote facility, orone or more battery strings providing power to telecommunicationsequipment in a remote facility, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the at least one sensor may be coupled to eachequipment, battery, or battery string among the at least one of the oneor more telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike. In some cases, the at least one sensor might each include, withoutlimitation, at least one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, athermometer, a humidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor, networkconnectivity sensor, or network communications sensor, and/or the like.According to some embodiments, the one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings might include, but are not limited to, at least one ofvoltage, amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gasdischarge, network connectivity, or network communicationscharacteristics, and/or the like.

At block 410, method 400 might comprise sending, with the at least onesensor of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system and via a network maintenance tunnel and over anetwork, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like. In some instances, the network maintenancetunnel might include, without limitation, one of a generic routingencapsulation (“GRE”) tunnel, a business support systems (“BSS”)communications line, an operations support systems (“OSS”)communications line, or a virtual private network (“VPN”) communicationsconnection, and/or the like. In some cases, the network maintenancetunnel might be a communications tunnel that transfers data over thenetwork without utilizing bandwidth associated with customers of aservice provider operating the network.

Method 400 might further comprise receiving, with a computing system ofthe telecommunications equipment health monitoring and managementsystem, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like (block 415). Method 400, at block 420, mightcomprise analyzing, with the computing system of the telecommunicationsequipment health monitoring and management system, the monitored one ormore characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or thelike, to identify each telecommunications equipment, eachtelecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string havingequipment health issues. At block 425, method 400 might comprise, basedon a determination that one or more of at least one telecommunicationsequipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or atleast one battery string have equipment health issues, sending, with thecomputing system, a notification to a user, the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the equipment health issues mightinclude, but is not limited to, at least one of high temperature abovepredetermined high temperature thresholds, low temperature belowpredetermined low temperature thresholds, high humidity abovepredetermined high humidity thresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormalbattery charge rate, abnormal battery drain rate, dead battery, networkconnectivity issues, or network communications issues, and/or the like.Method 400 might continue onto the process at block 430 in FIG. 4Bfollowing the circular marker denoted, “A.”

At block 430 in FIG. 4B (following the circular marker denoted, “A”),method 400 might comprise generating, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system, agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or the likeor analytics summarizing the monitored one or more characteristics ofeach of the at least one of the one or more telecommunicationsequipment, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, orthe one or more battery strings, and/or the like. Method 400 mightfurther comprise displaying, with the computing system and on a displaydevice that is viewable by the user, the generated graphicalvisualization (such as, but not limited to, that shown in FIG. 3, or thelike).

Referring to FIGS. 4C and 4D, the monitored one or more characteristicsof each of the at least one of the one or more telecommunicationsequipment, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, orthe one or more battery strings, and/or the like, may be stored in anetwork data store or the like (e.g., an analytics-based data store suchas Splunk®, Tableau®, or the like). According to such embodiments,sending the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like, via the network maintenance tunnel and overthe network (at block 410) might comprise sending, with the at least onesensor of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system and to the network data store via the networkmaintenance tunnel and over the network, the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or the like(block 440). In a similar manner, with reference to FIG. 4D, in someembodiments, receiving, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system,the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, and/or the like (at block 415) might comprise receiving, withthe computing system of the telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management system and from the network data store via thenetwork maintenance tunnel and over the network, the monitored one ormore characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, and/or the like(block 445).

Exemplary System and Hardware Implementation

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer or systemhardware architecture, in accordance with various embodiments. FIG. 5provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computer system500 of the service provider system hardware that can perform the methodsprovided by various other embodiments, as described herein, and/or canperform the functions of computer or hardware system (i.e., computingsystems 105 a and 105 b, user device(s) 115, display devices 120 and305, telecommunications equipment 135 a-135 n and 225, and sensors 150,155, 180, 185, 235, and 240, etc.), as described above. It should benoted that FIG. 5 is meant only to provide a generalized illustration ofvarious components, of which one or more (or none) of each may beutilized as appropriate. FIG. 5, therefore, broadly illustrates howindividual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separatedor relatively more integrated manner.

The computer or hardware system 500—which might represent an embodimentof the computer or hardware system (i.e., computing systems 105 a and105 b, user device(s) 115, display devices 120 and 305,telecommunications equipment 135 a-135 n and 225, and sensors 150, 155,180, 185, 235, and 240, etc.), described above with respect to FIGS.1-4—is shown comprising hardware elements that can be electricallycoupled via a bus 505 (or may otherwise be in communication, asappropriate). The hardware elements may include one or more processors510, including, without limitation, one or more general-purposeprocessors and/or one or more special-purpose processors (such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like); one or more input devices 515, which caninclude, without limitation, a mouse, a keyboard, and/or the like; andone or more output devices 520, which can include, without limitation, adisplay device, a printer, and/or the like.

The computer or hardware system 500 may further include (and/or be incommunication with) one or more storage devices 525, which can comprise,without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or caninclude, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an opticalstorage device, solid-state storage device such as a random accessmemory (“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devicesmay be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, including,without limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer or hardware system 500 might also include a communicationssubsystem 530, which can include, without limitation, a modem, a networkcard (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The communicationssubsystem 530 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such asthe network described below, to name one example), with other computeror hardware systems, and/or with any other devices described herein. Inmany embodiments, the computer or hardware system 500 will furthercomprise a working memory 535, which can include a RAM or ROM device, asdescribed above.

The computer or hardware system 500 also may comprise software elements,shown as being currently located within the working memory 535,including an operating system 540, device drivers, executable libraries,and/or other code, such as one or more application programs 545, whichmay comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments(including, without limitation, hypervisors, VMs, and the like), and/ormay be designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, providedby other embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, oneor more procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussedabove might be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 525 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 500.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer or hardware system 500 and/or might take the form of sourceand/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation onthe computer or hardware system 500 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.) then takes the form ofexecutable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, and/or the like) might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer or hardware system (such as the computer or hardware system500) to perform methods in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention. According to a set of embodiments, some or all of theprocedures of such methods are performed by the computer or hardwaresystem 500 in response to processor 510 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions (which might be incorporated into theoperating system 540 and/or other code, such as an application program545) contained in the working memory 535. Such instructions may be readinto the working memory 535 from another computer readable medium, suchas one or more of the storage device(s) 525. Merely by way of example,execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the workingmemory 535 might cause the processor(s) 510 to perform one or moreprocedures of the methods described herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer or hardware system 500, various computerreadable media might be involved in providing instructions/code toprocessor(s) 510 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code (e.g., as signals). In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical, and/or tangible storage medium. In some embodiments, acomputer readable medium may take many forms, including, but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, or the like. Non-volatile mediaincludes, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 525. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 535. In some alternativeembodiments, a computer readable medium may take the form oftransmission media, which includes, without limitation, coaxial cables,copper wire, and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise the bus505, as well as the various components of the communication subsystem530 (and/or the media by which the communications subsystem 530 providescommunication with other devices). In an alternative set of embodiments,transmission media can also take the form of waves (including withoutlimitation radio, acoustic, and/or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 510for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer or hardware system 500. Thesesignals, which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acousticsignals, optical signals, and/or the like, are all examples of carrierwaves on which instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 530 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 505 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 535, from which the processor(s) 505 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 535 may optionally be stored on a storage device 525 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 510.

As noted above, a set of embodiments comprises methods and systems forimplementing communications with telecommunications equipment, and, moreparticularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementingtelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management. FIG. 6illustrates a schematic diagram of a system 600 that can be used inaccordance with one set of embodiments. The system 600 can include oneor more user computers, user devices, or customer devices 605. A usercomputer, user device, or customer device 605 can be a general purposepersonal computer (including, merely by way of example, desktopcomputers, tablet computers, laptop computers, handheld computers, andthe like, running any appropriate operating system, several of which areavailable from vendors such as Apple, Microsoft Corp., and the like),cloud computing devices, a server(s), and/or a workstation computer(s)running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. A user computer, user device, or customer device 605can also have any of a variety of applications, including one or moreapplications configured to perform methods provided by variousembodiments (as described above, for example), as well as one or moreoffice applications, database client and/or server applications, and/orweb browser applications. Alternatively, a user computer, user device,or customer device 605 can be any other electronic device, such as athin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personaldigital assistant, capable of communicating via a network (e.g., thenetwork(s) 610 described below) and/or of displaying and navigating webpages or other types of electronic documents. Although the exemplarysystem 600 is shown with one user computer, user device, or customerdevice 605, any number of user computers, user devices, or customerdevices can be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network(s) 610. The network(s) 610 can be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including, without limitation, TCP/IP,SNA™, IPX™, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork(s) 610 (similar to network(s) 165 FIG. 1, or the like) can eachinclude a local area network (“LAN”), including, without limitation, afiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ network, and/or thelike; a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless wide area network(“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, including,without limitation, a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or anyother wireless protocol; and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks. In a particular embodiment, the network might include anaccess network of the service provider (e.g., an Internet serviceprovider (“ISP”)). In another embodiment, the network might include acore network of the service provider, and/or the Internet.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 615. Each ofthe server computers 615 may be configured with an operating system,including, without limitation, any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 615 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 605 and/orother servers 615.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 615 might be a data server,a web server, a cloud computing device(s), or the like, as describedabove. The data server might include (or be in communication with) a webserver, which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requestsfor web pages or other electronic documents from user computers 605. Theweb server can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 605 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 615, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications accessible by a client running on one or more of the clientcomputers 605 and/or other servers 615. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 615 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 605and/or other servers 615, including, without limitation, webapplications (which might, in some cases, be configured to performmethods provided by various embodiments). Merely by way of example, aweb application can be implemented as one or more scripts or programswritten in any suitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C #™ orC++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, aswell as combinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, including,without limitation, those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™, and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer,user device, or customer device 605 and/or another server 615. In someembodiments, an application server can perform one or more of theprocesses for implementing communications with telecommunicationsequipment, and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatusesfor implementing telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement, as described in detail above. Data provided by anapplication server may be formatted as one or more web pages (comprisingHTML, JavaScript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwarded to a usercomputer 605 via a web server (as described above, for example).Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/or inputdata from a user computer 605 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases, a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 615 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 605 and/or another server 615. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer, user device, or customer device 605 and/or server 615.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases 620a-620 n (collectively, “databases 620”). The location of each of thedatabases 620 is discretionary: merely by way of example, a database 620a might reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) aserver 615 a (and/or a user computer, user device, or customer device605). Alternatively, a database 620 n can be remote from any or all ofthe computers 605, 615, so long as it can be in communication (e.g., viathe network 610) with one or more of these. In a particular set ofembodiments, a database 620 can reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”)familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to the computers 605, 615 can bestored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 620 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

According to some embodiments, system 600 might further comprise acomputing system(s) 625 and corresponding database(s) 630 (similar tocomputing system(s) 105 a or 105 b and corresponding database(s) 110 aor 110 b, respectively, of FIG. 1, or the like). System 600 mightfurther comprise display device(s) 635 (similar to display device(s) 120or 305 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or the like). Computing system(s) 625 might becommunicatively coupled to each of database(s) 630, user device(s) 605(similar to user device(s) 115 of FIG. 1, or the like), and/or displaydevice(s) 635, while also being communicatively coupled to network(s)610. User device(s) 605, computing system(s) 625, database(s) 630,and/or display device(s) may be disposed at service provider facility640 (which might include, but is not limited to, a central office(“CO”), a service operations headquarters, and/or the like) that isassociated with, or operated by, a service provider.

System 600 might further comprise one or more telecommunicationsequipment 645 a-645 n (collectively, “telecommunications equipment 645”or the like; similar to telecommunications equipment 135 a-135 n and 225of FIGS. 1 and 2, or the like), one or more batteries 650 a-650 n(collectively, “batteries 650” or the like; similar to batteries 140a-140 n and 205 of FIGS. 1 and 2, or the like), a battery string(s) 655(similar to battery string(s) 145 and 210 of FIGS. 1 and 2, or thelike), first sensor(s) 660 a-660 n (collectively, “first sensors 660” or“sensors 660” or the like; similar to sensors 150, 180, 185, and 235 ofFIGS. 1 and 2, or the like), and second sensor(s) 665 a-665 n(collectively, “second sensors 665” or “sensors 665” or the like;similar to sensors 155, 180, 185, and 240 of FIGS. 1 and 2, or thelike), and/or the like, each of which may be disposed at a remotefacility(ies) 670, which may be associated with, or operated by, theservice provider. The remote facility(ies) 670 might each include, butis not limited to, a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”), and/or the like. System600 might further comprise a network maintenance tunnel 675 (similar tonetwork maintenance tunnel 170 and 245 of FIGS. 1 and 2, or the like)and a network data store(s) 680 (e.g., an analytics-based data storesuch as Splunk®, Tableau®, or the like; similar to network data store(s)175 of FIG. 1, or the like). The telecommunications equipment 645 mightcommunicatively couple to the server(s) 615 a or 615 b or to computingsystem(s) 625 via network(s) 610 and via regular network routes orpathways, while the sensors 660 and 665 might communicatively couple tothe server(s) 615 a or 615 b or to computing system(s) 625 vianetwork(s) 610 and via the network maintenance tunnel 675. According tosome embodiments, the network maintenance tunnel 675 might include, butis not limited to, one of a generic routing encapsulation (“GRE”)tunnel, a business support systems (“BSS”) communications line, anoperations support systems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtualprivate network (“VPN”) communications connection, or the like. In somecases, the network maintenance tunnel 675 might be a communicationstunnel that transfers data over the network(s) 610 without utilizingbandwidth associated with customers of a service provider operating thenetwork(s) 610.

In some instances, the telecommunications equipment 645 might include,without limitation, at least one of one or more analog switches, one ormore digital switches, one or more voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”)switches, one or more multilayer switches, one or more protocolconverters, one or more base transceiver stations, one or moremultiplexers, one or more customer office terminals, one or more modems,one or more routers, one or more network nodes, one or more gatewaydevices, one or more bridges, one or more bridge routers, one or morerepeaters, one or more repeater hubs, one or more proxy servers, one ormore firewalls, one or more network address translators, one or morenetwork interface controllers, one or more wireless network interfacecontrollers, one or more terminal adapters (e.g., integrated servicesdigital network (“ISDN”) terminal adapters, or the like), one or moreline drivers, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the sensors 660 might be coupled to thetelecommunications equipment 645, as individual sensors or as sets ofsensors, and might each include, without limitation, at least one of avoltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, a humidity sensor, agas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, or networkcommunications sensor, and/or the like. In a similar manner, the sensors665 might be coupled to the batteries 650 and/or the battery string(s)655 providing power to the telecommunications equipment 645, asindividual sensors or as sets of sensors, and might each include, but isnot limited to, at least one of a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, athermometer, a humidity sensor, a gas discharge sensor, networkconnectivity sensor, or network communications sensor, and/or the like.

In operation, at least one sensor among the sensors 660 and/or sensors665 might monitor one or more characteristics of each of at least one ofone or more telecommunications equipment 645 in a remote facility 670,one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 650 within a batterystring 655 providing power to telecommunications equipment 645 in aremote facility 670, or one or more battery strings 655 providing powerto telecommunications equipment 645 in a remote facility 670, and/or thelike. The at least one sensor might send the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 645, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 650, or the one or more battery strings 655, vianetwork maintenance tunnel 675 (e.g., a GRE tunnel, a BSS communicationsline, an OSS communications line, or a VPN communications connection, orthe like), in some cases to network data store(s) 680. Computingsystem(s) 625 might subsequently receive the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 645, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 650, or the one or more battery strings 655, in somecases from network data store(s) 680, over the network(s) 610 (in someinstances, via network maintenance tunnel 675 (not shown in FIG. 6)).

Computing system(s) 625 might analyze the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 645, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 650, or the one or more battery strings 655 toidentify each telecommunications equipment, each telecommunicationsequipment battery, or each battery string having equipment healthissues. Based on a determination that one or more of at least onetelecommunications equipment, at least one telecommunications equipmentbattery, or at least one battery string have equipment health issues,computing system(s) 625 might send a notification to a user (e.g., bysending the notification to user device(s) 605, or the like), thenotification comprising information regarding the one or more of the atleast one telecommunications equipment, the at least onetelecommunications equipment battery, or the at least one battery stringhaving equipment health issues, and/or the like.

In some cases, the one or more characteristics of each of the at leastone of the one or more telecommunications equipment 645, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries 650, or the one or more batterystrings 655 might include, without limitation, at least one of voltage,amperage, electrical charge, temperature, humidity, gas discharge,network connectivity, or network communications characteristics, and/orthe like. In some instances, the equipment health issues might include,but are not limited to, at least one of high temperature abovepredetermined high temperature thresholds, low temperature belowpredetermined low temperature thresholds, high humidity abovepredetermined high humidity thresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormalbattery charge rate, abnormal battery drain rate, dead battery, networkconnectivity issues, or network communications issues, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, computing system(s) 625 might generate agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment 645, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries 650, or the one or more battery strings 655 oranalytics summarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of eachof the at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment 645,the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries 650, or the oneor more battery strings 655, and/or the like. The computing system(s)625 might subsequently display, on a display device (e.g., displaydevice(s) 635) that is viewable by the user, the generated graphicalvisualization.

These and other functions of the system 600 (and its components) aredescribed in greater detail above with respect to FIGS. 1-4.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: monitoring, with at leastone sensor of a telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system, one or more characteristics of each of at least oneof one or more telecommunications equipment in a central office, aremote cabinet, or a digital subscriber line access multiplexer(“DSLAM”), one or more telecommunications equipment batteries within abattery string providing power to telecommunications equipment in acentral office, a remote cabinet, or a DSLAM, or one or more batterystrings providing power to telecommunications equipment in a centraloffice, a remote cabinet, or a DSLAM; sending, with the at least onesensor of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system and via a network maintenance tunnel and over anetwork, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings; receiving, with a computing system of the telecommunicationsequipment health monitoring and management system, the monitored one ormore characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; analyzing, withthe computing system of the telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management system, the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings to identify eachtelecommunications equipment, each telecommunications equipment battery,or each battery string having equipment health issues; based on adetermination that one or more of at least one telecommunicationsequipment, at least one telecommunications equipment battery, or atleast one battery string have equipment health issues, sending, with thecomputing system, a notification to a user, the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues; generating, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system, agraphical visualization that presents at least one of the monitored oneor more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings or analyticssummarizing the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings, wherein the graphical visualization includes a map and each ofthe at least one of the monitored one or more characteristics arepresented at an associated geographic location on the map, and whereinat least two characteristics are presented at an associated geographiclocation with accompanying icons for at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings; and displaying,with the computing system and on a display device that is viewable bythe user, the generated graphical visualization, wherein the networkmaintenance tunnel comprises one of a generic routing encapsulation(“GRE”) tunnel, a business support systems (“BSS”) communications line,an operations support systems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtualprivate network (“VPN”) communications connection, and the networkmaintenance tunnel is a communications tunnel that transfers data overthe network without utilizing bandwidth associated with customers of aservice provider operating the network.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one sensor is coupled to each equipment, battery,or battery string among the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor each comprises at least oneof a voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, a humiditysensor, a gas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, or networkcommunications sensor.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings comprise atleast one of voltage, amperage, electrical charge, temperature,humidity, gas discharge, network connectivity, or network communicationscharacteristics.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the equipment healthissues comprise at least one of high temperature above predeterminedhigh temperature thresholds, low temperature below predetermined lowtemperature thresholds, high humidity above predetermined high humiditythresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormal battery charge rate, abnormalbattery drain rate, dead battery, network connectivity issues, ornetwork communications issues.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein sendingthe monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings via the network maintenance tunnel and over the networkcomprises sending, with the at least one sensor of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system andto a network data store via the network maintenance tunnel and over thenetwork, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving, with the computingsystem of the telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system, the monitored one or more characteristics of each ofthe at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings comprises receiving, with the computing system of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system andfrom the network data store, the monitored one or more characteristicsof each of the at least one of the one or more telecommunicationsequipment, the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, orthe one or more battery strings.
 8. A telecommunications equipmenthealth monitoring and management system, comprising: at least one sensordisposed at one of a central office, a remote cabinet, or a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (“DSLAM”), wherein the at least onesensor monitors one or more characteristics of each of at least one ofone or more telecommunications equipment in the one of the centraloffice, the remote cabinet, or the DSLAM, one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries within a battery string providing power totelecommunications equipment in the one of the central office, theremote cabinet, or the DSLAM, or one or more battery strings providingpower to telecommunications equipment in the one of the central office,the remote cabinet, or the DSLAM, wherein the at least one sensor sendsthe monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings via a network maintenance tunnel and over a network; a computingsystem that communicatively couples to the at least one sensor via anetwork maintenance tunnel and over a network, the computing systemcomprising: at least one processor; and a non-transitory computerreadable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor,the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereoncomputer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executedby the at least one processor, causes the computing system to: receivethe monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one ofthe one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings; analyze the monitored one or more characteristics of each ofthe at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, theone or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or morebattery strings to identify each telecommunications equipment, eachtelecommunications equipment battery, or each battery string havingequipment health issues; based on a determination that one or more of atleast one telecommunications equipment, at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or at least one battery string have equipment healthissues, send a notification to a user, the notification comprisinginformation regarding the one or more of the at least onetelecommunications equipment, the at least one telecommunicationsequipment battery, or the at least one battery string having equipmenthealth issues; generate a graphical visualization that presents at leastone of the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the at leastone of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings or analytics summarizing the monitored one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings, wherein thegraphical visualization includes a map and each of the at least one ofthe monitored one or more characteristics are presented at an associatedgeographic location on the map, and wherein at least two characteristicsare presented at an associated geographic location with accompanyingicons for at least one of the one or more telecommunications equipment,the one or more telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one ormore battery strings; and display, on a display device that is viewableby the user, the generated graphical visualization, wherein the networkmaintenance tunnel comprises one of a generic routing encapsulation(“GRE”) tunnel, a business support systems (“BSS”) communications line,an operations support systems (“OSS”) communications line, or a virtualprivate network (“VPN”) communications connection, and the networkmaintenance tunnel is a communications tunnel that transfers data overthe network without utilizing bandwidth associated with customers of aservice provider operating the network.
 9. The telecommunicationsequipment health monitoring and management system of claim 8, whereinthe at least one sensor is coupled to each equipment, battery, orbattery string among the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings.
 10. Thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system ofclaim 8, wherein the at least one sensor each comprises at least one ofa voltmeter, an ammeter, a multimeter, a thermometer, a humidity sensor,a gas discharge sensor, network connectivity sensor, or networkcommunications sensor.
 11. The telecommunications equipment healthmonitoring and management system of claim 8, wherein the one or morecharacteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings comprise atleast one of voltage, amperage, electrical charge, temperature,humidity, gas discharge, network connectivity, or network communicationscharacteristics.
 12. The telecommunications equipment health monitoringand management system of claim 8, wherein the equipment health issuescomprise at least one of high temperature above predetermined hightemperature thresholds, low temperature below predetermined lowtemperature thresholds, high humidity above predetermined high humiditythresholds, battery gas leakage, abnormal battery charge rate, abnormalbattery drain rate, dead battery, network connectivity issues, ornetwork communications issues.
 13. The telecommunications equipmenthealth monitoring and management system of claim 8, wherein sending themonitored one or more characteristics of each of the at least one of theone or more telecommunications equipment, the one or moretelecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings via the network maintenance tunnel and over the networkcomprises sending, with the at least one sensor of thetelecommunications equipment health monitoring and management system andto a network data store via the network maintenance tunnel and over thenetwork, the monitored one or more characteristics of each of the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications equipment, the one ormore telecommunications equipment batteries, or the one or more batterystrings.
 14. The telecommunications equipment health monitoring andmanagement system of claim 13, wherein receiving the monitored one ormore characteristics of each of the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings comprisesreceiving, with the computing system of the telecommunications equipmenthealth monitoring and management system and from the network data storevia the network maintenance tunnel and over the network, the monitoredone or more characteristics of each of the at least one of the one ormore telecommunications equipment, the one or more telecommunicationsequipment batteries, or the one or more battery strings.